The invention relates to the general fields of parenting, education and interactive behavioral motivational systems.
Positive reinforcement is basic to all learning behavior in living organisms. If a behavior is followed by a pleasant experience, the likelihood of the event reoccurring is increased. This seems like common sense to us today; however, the concept of positive reinforcement was not clearly investigated until the end of the nineteenth century. E. L. Thorndike postulated the concept of satisfying consequences (rewards) in the late 1890s. The reward system is a proven, effective tool for increasing rates of positive behavior.
A common form of a reward system is called the star chart. The star chart is made up of seven columns that represent the seven days of the week plus a row for each behavior. Star stickers are placed in a square that represents a behavior and the day it was performed. A reward is given after the child earns a predetermined number of stars.
Present inventor THOMAS has made known a computer software program stored on two distinct five-and-a-half-inch computer disk drive floppies. The first was labeled the xe2x80x9cParent/Teacher Disk.xe2x80x9d This xe2x80x9cParent/Teacher Diskxe2x80x9d contained the authoring program that a parent or teacher would place into a computer disk drive, power on the computer, and loads the main program into the computer memory.
After the program was installed, the parent or teacher would take out the xe2x80x9cParent/Teacher Diskxe2x80x9d out of the disk drive and replace it with a second five and a half inch floppy called the xe2x80x9cChild""s Disk.xe2x80x9d This xe2x80x9cChild""s Diskxe2x80x9d became the place where the parent or teacher saved the Child""s name, password, behaviors assigned, contract with a reward in text form only, only three possible graphic screens with motivating text, and only one points earned goal screen for the child""s usage.
The child used the computer assisted behavior management program by inserting the xe2x80x9cChild""s Disk,xe2x80x9d with his name and password stored on it into the computer disk drive. The child then turned on the computer power switch to load the child""s program. The program displayed on a computer monitor, in text, the behaviors that the parent or teacher picked for the child to perform. The child selected xe2x80x9cyesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cnoxe2x80x9d after each behavior and after finishing could have viewed one of only three graphic screens supplied with a motivating text message if it was set up by the parent or teacher. The child viewed only a single graphic representation of how far he was from finishing his point goal. Lastly certificates with the total points earned were printed out using only text. The points that the child earned were stored on the xe2x80x9cChild""s Diskxe2x80x9d that the parent or teacher view and format into a printable record for later reference.
This method was an advancement over other children""s motivational methods because it allowed parents or teachers a simple method for presenting to a child, on a standalone computer using five-and-one-half-inch floppies, to enter by text any rewards and any positive behaviors that the parent or teacher wanted the child to perform and store the results on a five-and-one-half-inch storage floppy. Performance statistics were easily computed over time and presented in a printable record.
Although I have made the previous known, it is inadequate. Entering text to represent a behavior, and a reward in the contract, made the behavior and reward less concrete and visual. This is especially important for children who have limited reading abilities. The parent or teacher would have to go out and purchase the reward ahead of time or find a time, sometimes inconveniently, to go out after the reward was earned. This system was more likely to produce delays in rewarding the child, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the positive reinforcer.
Also, no third-party program such as a math drill program could use the previous invention by THOMAS.
Finally, the method of storage of program and data on a five-and-one-half-inch floppy made it vulnerable to accidents and children""s mischief. Field-testing of the method showed occurrences of purposeful destruction of other children""s diskette floppies by children whose behavioral performance was low. Due to electronic storage limitations this method of program distribution allowed only three reinforcing static graphics and only one point goal screen. Parents and teachers could not make full use of the degree of reinforcement that novel multimedia reinforcement screens can produce. The previous method allowed only a finite number of days to record daily points. In some cases the method allowed less than one month to record points. This method did not allow access by third-party educational programs such as math drill computer software programs to pass results to the system to access reinforcing components. Previous system allowed usage with only a 5.5-inch floppy-based system, thereby making the system limited to those using 5.5-inch floppy disk drives. This system mandated that parent, teacher, and child use the software at the same location at the same time for the safety of the data, thereby disallowing distance learning motivational systems. A separated parent thousands of miles away could not set up a motivational system, have his child use it at the other parents home, and view the results. It also did not allow a child to join as an individual or group member to a chart created by another parent or teacher.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention a system for a parent, teacher or authorized adult with a child to electronically select a reward from an electronic catalog of rewards that automatically becomes a visual and motivating component of an electronic behavior management system.
It is an object of this invention that after a reward is selected from the electronic catalog the reward is automatically billed and shipped to the parent or teacher.
It is an object of this invention that a xe2x80x9creward chestxe2x80x9d or database is augmented each time a parent or teacher chooses a reward in the electronic catalog. The reward remains in the xe2x80x9creward chestxe2x80x9d until the child earns it in the electronic behavior management system session by earning the number of points assigned by the parent or teacher.
It is an object of this invention that a visual representation of a behavior be used to present to a child a behavior from which to respond an acknowledgement of performance. This concrete behavioral representation is motivating and helpful for a child who has limited reading abilities.
Another object of this invention is a system and method for delivering network-assisted behavior management to a remote device. The parent or teacher sets up the components of the behavior management system through a remote device. Similarly, a child interacts with the components of the behavior management system on a remote device, but not necessarily the same remote device or even the same location as the parent or adult.
Previous method of program distribution allowed only three reinforcing static graphics to be used by parents and teacher, thereby limiting the degree of reinforcement that novel multimedia reinforcement screens can produce. Present invention allows numerous multimedia reinforcement screens to be used by the parent or teacher for reinforcing the child.
Previous method allowed only a finite number of days to record daily points, in some cases a month or less. Present method allows an almost unlimited number of days to record points.
Previous method allowed only one point goal screen to be used, thereby limiting the degree of reinforcement that novel multimedia point goal screens can produce. Proposed method allows numerous choices that are updated and accessible.
Previous method did not allow access by third-party educational programs to pass performance parameters to the system to access reinforcing components. Proposed system permits third-party educational programs to access the system and pass performance parameters.
Previous system did not allow for a parent or teacher to select a pictorial representation of a behavior, in the form of a picture or multimedia file, for the child to view. Present system allows a child to view pictorial representations of behaviors. This helps a child with limited or no reading abilities to understand what behavior the parent or teacher is reinforcing.
Previous system allowed usage with only a 5.5-inch floppy based system, thereby rendering the system inadequate. Present system allows the delivery of a motivating system to a myriad of remote devices such as interactive television, interactive gaming consoles, screen phones, personal data assistants, and personal computers thereby increasing possible usage.
Previous system mandated that parent, teacher, and child be at the same location and for safety of data use the system at the same time. Present system allows for adults and child to be at separate locations, thereby allowing distance learning motivational systems. A separated parent thousands of miles away can set up a motivational system, have the child use it at a remote location, and view the results at the parent""s home. This advancement also allows for charts to be made for other children to join at any location.
Previous system did not allow for third-party educational programs such as math drill programs to utilize its motivational components to increase performance of preferred behaviors. Present system allows third-party programs to pass performance parameters as behaviors to present electronic behavior management program.